Hard Bop, a jazz style of the late 50′s and early 60′s, emerged out of the Be Bop era of Gillespie and Parker with players like Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard. Hard Bop is an intensely swinging groove using Soul, Blues and Gospel influences, extended harmonies and blistering solos.

No single album captures the mystique of the hard-bop era better than The Night of the Cookers, recorded for the Blue Note label in 1965, a memorable septet performance recorded before a beautifully responsive audience at Brooklynís Club La Marchal where Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan engage in a trumpet battle for the ages. The Cookers draws itís inspiration from the possibilities of such incendiary nights by combining some of the greatest musicians from that era, with some of this generations more fiery players.

The group performs newly arranged versions of classic compositions by Billy Harper and George Cables along with works by the other members of the ensemble.While giants in their own right, the members of this ensemble have performed and/or recorded with pretty much every jazz great of the past 40 years including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Jackie McLean, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Lee Morgan, Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, and Roy Haynes, to name just a few.